Gerhke places first in Short Story Contest

Editor's Note: Isabella Gerhke, a sophomore at Saco High School, took first place in the 7th-12th Grade Category of the Montana Memory Project Short Story Contest, a state-wide writing competition.

Gerhke is a student in Kelly Downing's English Class at Saco High School.

Winners of the contest were announced on Saturday, March 27, via distinctlymontana.com.

The following is Gerhke's award winning story named "The Sapphire Pendant."

In one hand he held her photo and in the other her necklace. He recalled how much she loved that necklace. She would smile and tell admiring friends of how the necklace was her father's wedding gift to her mother, how the sapphire was from the northwest mountains of Montana, how it was her dream to one day embark on an adventure and move to Montana. Here he stood, without her.

It had been a year since she had passed and he still couldn't accept it. He knew he was in denial and the thought of doing anything to change that hurt him. It meant accepting the woman he loved was no longer with him.

He thought of his daughter. He was jealous that she was too innocent to understand. Nonetheless she was the one person he had left. She became his motivation to go on after his wife passed. For few months he was too busy to think about the devastation of losing her. He continued on with his life as if nothing had happened. He was afraid of slowing down. That went well until he was laid off. Feeling that hopeless darkness sink in that night walking home, he reached his apartment building and noticed a flier hanging on the wall. The headline was"Move to Montana!"In the description, he read how he could claim 150 acres for his own and start a new life. Without giving himself me to think, he jumped on the opportunity.

The father checked the time and realized he only had a few hours before he had to be to town. "Liz!" he called, disrupting her antics. The little girl made her way to him as fast as her legs could handle. He picked her up and spun her around. "We need to get He took a few minutes to clean her up and they headed to town.

They climbed in their car and drove to town Their car approached the main street and came to a stop. As he approached a scraping feeling grew in his stomach. He thought of the manager’s words, "One-hundred and seven dollars for a new life. the man sat next to his oblivious daughter and picked up the necklace He felt her presence when he held it. He thought of her voice and her dream. For the first time he allowed himself to truly miss her. He couldn't handle pretending like he was ok anymore. The broken father finally allowed himself to break without feeling guilty. A tear fell from his face; he knew what he had to do. His wife was gone but her dream would live on.

"Pleasure doing business!" the Jeweler called. He held two checks in his hand, one was worth 107 dollars, and the rest of the necklace's worth was on the other check. He held his daughter's hand and walked to the city council office.

"Well, Jim, are ya ready to start new?" called the city manager as they entered the building. The father nodded and handed over the check and the certificate. While waiting, the manager spoke. "There was a fire on this plot a few years back so the original owners left but now it's as beautiful as ever. It was tragic but death can give rise to something quite beautiful." He handed the new property owner his signed certificate.

Later that night while exploring the property with his daughter he came to the border of the property. The pair discovered a row of hay stacks. Looking around he noticed the girl had disappeared. He cautiously walked around the hay stacks. Giggles rang out from behind him. He turned around to see his child grinning at him. "Oh Liz," he said, admiring her smile. He hadn't realized it until now but she had the same smile as her mother.